The question we're addressing is "Gender and the Social Web: New tools, same...stuff?" Key to the discussion is following paragraph, which appears to define "stuff":

"Technology in general has a history of male dominance. Will there be anything different in the proliferation of tools and expressions that constitute the social web? Are there ways that the social space around new web tools can be articulated by new actors with a new vision of equitable interaction?"

The short answer: Never forget why women are the power users of Web 2.0.

Contrary to so many presentations I've seen about women's use of social media -- from email to message boards to IM to blogs -- it's not just because we love to talk.

It's because women also love to listen.

Asking questions and listening to the answers is the key to BlogHer's success as a community thus far -- and we are just the tip of iceberg. (Hint: Check out the blogs in our blogrolls and watch where the action is, where the comments are.) As I said when Elisa, Jory and I first started working together 15 months ago: How do you overthrow the dominant hierarchy? You give up control. And when it comes to leadership, the first step in giving up control is to listen. That's how people who use the social web can continue to grow an innovate new models of leadership -- in technology, in politics and in operations.

The long answer: Women are not only the majority of Web users - women are the power Web 2.0 users. "New tools same...stuff?" If "stuff" means the same old lack of female representation in technology leadership (from boardrooms to conferences) and in parts of society now being dramatically affected by technology (say, the entire publishing world) the answer is no, don't expect the same old stuff - unless women choose to tolerate that answer. That is the challenge -- what do individual women want and whether and if they will take personal responsbility to make that happen.

But before I go there, I want to dig into the women-as-power-Web 2.0-user reality. It's not that women have changed. It's that technology has finally equipped us with tools we can fit into our lives and our communication styles as never before. Whether we're breastfeeding or taking care of aging parents or trying to do all of the above while traveling for work, the Internet is our friend. The email metaphor extends throughout social media -- it's essential lives, essential ticking through our massive to-do lists. Blogging technology has finally granted us the ability to, essentially, create automatic, contextual, one-to-many email communiques with existing and likely future simpatica women online.

Note my emphasis on communication. Communication does not just mean talking, or pushing words or audio or video at people. Communication also requires listening. Listening requires synthesizing, absorbing, asking, poking at, dissecting and learning. That's what women are doing with the social web.

That's the secret sauce driving astonishing new numbers on women's social media use by the likes of Nielsen Net Ratings, Perseus Development Corp., WOW!, and eMarketer. Even the classically rather behind and buttoned up Pew Center recently used the word "voracious" to describe women's communication habits online:

“Women are more voracious online communicators…Women are catching up to men in most measures of online life. Men like the Internet for the experiences …while women like it for the human connections it promotes.” Source: Pew | Internet, “How Women and Men Use the Internet,” 12.05

All the sources listed above paint a single picture--and I'll use a very foreign, male word: Online dominance...

Women already outnumber men online in the U.S. – among marrieds, people with kids at home and in every age category but 65+

Women are equally as likely as men to “Read a blog,” and “Create a blog”

Women write between 43% and 56% of blogs

Women command a large share of blog visitors

Women continue to control 83 % of household spending.

That last fact--that women control 83 cents of every household dollar spent in the United States--hasn't changed in a decade, since before I wrote my first Women.com presentation.

So now the question comes back to us: Okay, wired women, what kind of world do you want to live and work in? How much "stuff" will women tolerate before we abandon the offending parties and do our own thing? Will we operate our ownop-edpages or stay off them, as Amy Sullivan wondered last year? Will we run for office or run from the polls? And when we do our own thing -- be it BlogHer or Momsrising or venture capital or online personals -- how can we continue to innovate in our style of leadership? How can we remember to just...keep...listening?

"Huge Win for Online Journalists' Source Protection"A California state appeals court ruled in favor of the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF's) petition on behalf of three online journalists Friday, holding that the online journalists have the same right to protect the confidentiality of their sources as offline reporters do. "Today's decision is a victory for the rights of journalists, whether online or offline, and for the public at large," said EFF Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl, who argued the case before the appeals court last month. "The court has upheld the strong protections for the free flow of information to the press, and from the press to the public." Full story, For the full decision in the case [PDF], For more on Apple v. Does "

What does this mean for you and me? Here's an excerpt from Denise's terrific write-up, and you should really read the whole thing:

[Update:] The California shield law compels a protective order. "The shield law is intended to protect the gathering and dissemination of news, and that is what petitioners did here." "Acts of journalism" indeed:

We can think of no workable test or principle that would distinguish 'legitimate' from 'illegitimate' news. Any attempt by courts to draw such a distinction would imperil a fundamental purpose of the First Amendment, which is to identify the best, most important, and most valuable ideas not by any sociological or economic formula, rule of law, or process of government, but through the rough and tumble competition of the memetic marketplace.

The court rejected Apple's argument that publishing "verbatim copies" of internal information cannot constitute legitimate journalism because it assertedly involves "no editorial oversight:" "The shield exists not only to protect editors but equally if not more to protect newsgatherers. The primacy Apple would grant to editorial function cannot be justified by any rationale known to us." Moreover, it should be self-evident in the digital age that simply deciding what to publish is indeed an editorial act (note this court gets the impact of attention on journalism)..." more

Be aware that you still need to know your rights and may need to step carefully in your home state: American journalists in all media still lack the protection of a national shield law, which is how reporters regularly end up in jail. That's the next step. For history on this issue, see the First Amendment Center.

"It's not very often that you see MoveOn.org, the Christian Coalition, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the Gun Owners of America, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the American Library Association, and Craig Newmark of Craigslist on the same side of the political fences. (Where's the ninja? Read on....)"

For anyone who missed Laura's previous posts on this topic, check out:

I love how Ben Scott nails the central issue. Looks like he and Moby have done their part. And, to your point, it even looks as though the House may do the right thing. But as Public Knowledge notes at the end of that link, "It’s a little early to tell what will happen in the House now. In the past, when Judiciary and Commerce have passed separate bills, the Rules Committee got the unenviable task of figuring out how to deal with the competing interests."

I also have to thank Laura for linking my 10-year-old's fave ninja site. This guy kills me. I'll be the one at BlogHer in a pair of black pyjamas, karate-chopping my way toward the drinks with the little umbrellas...

This link brought to you in honor of all the former Women.commies I'm seeing at tonight's reunion:

Acquired? Or Expired?

Ah, names from yesteryear. Webvan. Boo. Kozmo. Pets.com.

George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." So...with all of the Web 2.0 hype currently happening, let's see what lessons we learned from the dot-com boom of the late 90's. Here are 25 companies that were dot-com darlings but are no longer with us. Can you tell if they were...Acquired or Expired?

Introducing a new way for advertisers to jump-start a conversation with the most influential women on the Internet: Women bloggers and their readers.

BlogHer LLC, the number-one guide to women bloggers, invites sponsors to join the BlogHer Ad Network and support women who blog...

You have to visit the first link to see every blog -- and there will be more, as we say in our letter. I think it's exciting and important that we add economic empowerment to our mission. More from me on this topic soon...

Here's the scoop: Today, Gotham politico (and BlogHer correspondent) Liza Sabater of Culture Kitchen posted this entry: "Exclusive Blind Item: The blauxg pas edition." Great story -- like any good geek, Sabater apparently reads her referral logs. In so doing, she came across an as-yet unreleased NYT blog on local politics that links to the terrific grassroots politics blog Sabater developed, The Gothamist. Here's the kicker: While the NYT blog isn't publicly launched or linked from http://nytimes.com, Sabater was able to log in, post, and warn the editors that they had not secured the site and she could do damage. Her graphic tells it all:

Here's what the NYTD team should do next: Pick door number 1 (above), declare success and work with your blog community. Liza has done you a favor. You've been hoping to recruit Liza's feedback and her readers and you did. Now email all the speakers at the Personal Democracy Forum happening in your neck of the woods on May 15 and ask them to help you test the blog. A blog does not stand alone -- anymore than one talks with one's self, if one wishes to continue charging premium ad rates. So partner with other bloggers to work out the kinks -- if you know what I mean, and I think after covering your competition's "free form editorial experiments," that you do.

Whatever you do, don't ignore Sabater's advice -- she's probably right, given some of the sensitivities at your organization, that she shouldn't have been able to log in and post just yet. Don't fail to take advantage of the fact that she has instalaunched your new blog. Don't, whatever you do, shut the thing down. Looks like the community might be as interested in this project as you are.

For more on how to executive on Steps 1, 2 and 3, you can read the rest of my comments to the OJR, as well as the excellent insights of Xeni Jardin, Chris Nolan and Bob Cauthorn, here.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Never, ever underestimate the tornado that is my colleague and BlogHer Co-Founder Elisa Camahort.

Elisa, BlogHer's conference programming czarina, claims primary responsibility for this action-packed schedule for July 28. And as of today, we have sold every ticket we have for Day One of BlogHer '06, all 400 slots -- that's a good 100 more than we originally planned.

Blogs and guestblogging

Five-second therapy

Gail Sheehy"Women's liberation is not the end...it is the beginning of a lot of work. There is a whole world out there that needs to be totally transformed so that women and men can create, desire, build and play..."